Brilliant Barry completes Development Tour brace in Hildesheim

Keane Barry celebrating on the PDC big stage

Keane Barry capped off a brilliant weekend of Winmau Development Tour action by clinching a second title inside three days in Hildesheim on Sunday.

Barry defeated Owen Bates 5-3 in a high-quality Event 15 final, averaging 95.85 and landing three 180s to secure his third Development Tour triumph of 2022, the fifth of his career.

The Irishman survived four deciding-leg tussles to scoop the £2,000 top prize at Halle 39, with the first of these coming in his opening round tie against Joshua Richardson.

The 19-year-old posted a 102.84 average to edge out Jake Neale in another seven-leg thriller, before demolishing Nico Lopau to seal a spot in round four.

Barry defied a 98 average from three-time Development Tour Event winner Kevin Doets to close out another 4-3 success, which set up a repeat of Saturday’s Event 14 final against Sebastian Bialecki.

Bialecki converted three ton-plus finishes to topple Barry on Saturday, but the Irishman avenged that defeat in dramatic fashion, recovering from 3-1 down and surviving match darts in the process.

The UK Open semi-finalist then inflicted Lewy Williams’ fourth quarter-final defeat of the weekend, before powering past Cameron Crabtree 5-2 in the semi-finals.

Crabtree defeated Nathan Rafferty in the last 16, and Barry now leapfrogs the Northern Irishman to top the Development Tour Order of Merit, having claimed £5,500 in prize money across the three days of competition.

Bates fell agonisingly short in his bid for a maiden Development Tour crown, although he produced a string of impressive displays in reaching the final.

The 19-year-old began his campaign with successive whitewash wins over Jack Male, Sebastian Keine and David Zaruba, followed by a 4-2 victory over JDC World Champion Bradly Roes.

Bates battled past Christopher Holt in the last eight to set up a showdown against Owen Roelofs, who dumped out his fellow Dutchman Geert Nentjes in the quarter-finals, yet Bates breezed through to Sunday’s showpiece with an emphatic 5-1 win.

Event 15 completed the weekend's action, with the Winmau Development Tour set to return for a further five events from August 19-21 in Hildesheim, Germany.

The top two players from the 2022 Development Tour Order of Merit will win a PDC Tour Card for 2023-24 and a place in the 2022/23 Cazoo World Darts Championship.

See full results in the Match Centre.

See match stats through DartConnect.

PDC Winmau Development Tour
Sunday June 5, Halle 39, Hildesheim
Event 15
Quarter-Finals

Cam Crabtree 5-4 Conor Heneghan
Keane Barry 5-3 Lewy Williams
Owen Bates 5-3 Christopher Holt
Owen Roelofs 5-2 Geert Nentjes

Semi-Finals
Keane Barry 5-2 Cam Crabtree
Owen Bates 5-1 Owen Roelofs

Final
Keane Barry 5-3 Owen Bates